Garden centre expansion approved in Towcester

A popular Towcester garden centre will be granted planning permission for an extension.

The Bell Plantation, just off the A5 Watling Street, had applied for the redevelopment of part of the garden centre site to provide a new restaurant and a new retail area allocated as a Spa centre.

The plantation has a mixed use but is predominantly used for the garden centre; however there are offices, a veterinary practice and a children’s day nursery on site as well.

A number of existing buildings will need to be demolished, including the existing hot tub and Spa centre, a canopy and storage area, and an existing garden centre and poultry storage.

These existing buildings will be replaced a single building with a floor area of 1,065 sqm which will be split between two main uses. The larger area would be for a restaurant and café for the garden centre, while the smaller area would be used as a replacement for the hot tub and Spa centre.

Members of South Northamptonshire Council’s planning committee this afternoon (November 1) unanimously agreed to delegate responsibility to the assistant director for development to grant the scheme planning permission.

Councillor Martin Johns said: “I have got no objections to this. I don’t think it represents any harm in its visual appearance, and access from the A5 doesn’t seem to be a problem. So overall I support this.”

And Councillor Elaine Wiltshire added: “The cafe at the moment is not really big enough for the amount of people that go there, and I think this will be a big improvement for them. So I have no objections and am happy to support this.”